It’s Ridiculous by Christine M. Du Bois

It’s ridiculous how much
I love,
how much
I crave
all that is creative
in all creation,
how much
I long
for union 
with
every ovum,
every spore and sperm,
painter’s palette,
tapping toe drop,
woven nest, and 
tiny bit of algae
dancing aglow
in inky seas;
every beaver’s lodge,
beveled loveseat,
tapenade on toast,
woven tapestry,
micro-sculptures
on grains of rice, 
macro-scupltures
on massive, translucent 
blocks of ice;
every aria, 
accordion,
drumbeat, 
bluegrass, 
hymn for humming, 
spitting sparkler,
spangled humming
bird;
cathedral spires,
purse-web spiders,
steel-pans, lyres, 
baobabs, 
bossa nova, and
the web of life
beneath all soil.
This love is wild,
ardent and
arduous, 
sharp and 
shepherding,
stretching towards
connection,
foolish and rebellious--
complete infatuation--
and it makes me feel
eternally,
achingly 
alive.

Christine M. Du Bois is an anthropologist of immigration, race relations, and food cultures.  She has published three non-fiction books, Images of West Indian Immigrants in Mass Media (LFB Scholarly, 2004), The World of Soy (University of IL Press, 2008), and The Story of Soy (Reaktion Press, 2018). She is a new poet, a precinct Judge of Elections in Pennsylvania, a longtime Girl Scout leader, a wife, a mom, and a friend.